I've listened to the tape of the April WPA board meeting. I'm not going to transcribe every word of each report. I'm reporting what I heard to the best of my ability. Please listen to the tape yourself. TRANSCRIPTION IS UNDERLINED. COMMENTS IN RED
DeMarchi, "One of the areas other than the one last month that I continue to work on was....I did find out I had to file for the permits for the Wedgefield ditch.... are the erosion on the adjacent property. So I will work on that when I get back. The other thing is we've gotten TWO BIDS ???for the cleaning of the ditches and the road ways on the Enclave. The end of Frances Parker, the new section and Joanna Gillard. One of the problems there is that the mowers can't get in there and mow the berms adequately and we have a problem with drainage because it backs up in these because of all the weeds and the trees and of the two bids I got, one was from Great Lawns for $1,100 and one was DE and GC (hard to hear company initials), and theirs was for $1,080, and I've drawn up a contract which they have signed and they have are waiting for our approval." Wait a minute. A few months ago, this same board allowed McMillin to refuse to get bids for the clearing of the spoil site, drag the spoil site management away from Water Amenities, and call on a clause in the Great Lawns contract that allows him to give them "like work". How does this board approve that, not use CONSISTENCY, and ask for bids outside to perform work to enable them to mow??????? This is more of a situation of "like work" than the crazy move made by the board prior to this. Now for $20 THEY GIVE THE WORK TO ANOTHER UNKNOWN CONTRACTOR????????? DeMarchi continues, "OK, and Jacky, you're going to administer that for me. OK. They've provided their insurance and what their contract requires them to do is clear adjacent to the road an area of 12-15 feet or to a tree line. If a tree is 10 feet from the rod they will do that. They will then clear around all electrical boxes and utilities and things like that and they will take the debris off the road, OK and they are going to bring in two pieces of equipment. They are going to bring in a bush hog and a brush cutter and they are, which will take down trees and stuff like that. I'm going to ask the board to approve up to $1,200 for the ditch cleaning in the Enclave." There is a second to the motion. I can't identify the speaker with certainty. President Walton repeats the motion and asks for discussion.
McBride, "I know when I bought my property I was responsible for the drainage. They made that perfectly clear. I paid for all the drainage that had to be done on my property. Now we got land there that we ...How are we handling this?" DeMarchi, Well first of all John, if you recall when the Enclave was created OK, the board that sat at that time accepted that disaster area as it was OK. The developer at the time along with Grand Strand Engineering did a very poor job. In fact going over the drainage maps and n the case of Mr. Greyson was building down there was ...The drainage maps put together by Grand Strand Engineering are incorrect. The flow does not go as they indicate. Most areas of th Enclave OK, particularly on Joanna Gillard, we don't know where the ditches are, or where the water is going because the weeds are so high and there are trees growing in the ditches so those are all the reasons. ...will all be removed and then grounds..., OK we'll be able to maintain that, OK...They will mow all brems in the area. Right now and the other factor is, and Larry will discuss is the trash that is thrown out there and the fact that there are things going on with all the brush and everything else that you can't see what is going on. The area needs to be taken care of an cleaned up and mowed and get all that debris out of here so we can say where it is going." Where has ARC been all this time? Both President Walton and DeMarchi have been on ARC for a LONG TIME. Why weren't they insisting these things be taken care of? I'm pretty certain DeMarchi built two homes, of the few homes, on Joanna Gillard. He may even have owned the lots he built on there. Did he? If so, as a professional, didn't he notice any of the problems, and if so why didn't he bring this up then? All those old boards are so irresponsible! If so, why did he buy property like that? McBride is correct, owners are responsible. This comes down to buyer beware. It gets better. He plans more work there.
DeMarchi, "The NEXT PROJECT will be to probably bring in a back hoe and track hoe, box blade, whatever we need because we have several areas where there is no flow and the dirt and there is no flow and the dirt there is no swale and the dirt is higher than the road, OK. Grand Strand Engineering ha ruined some of the lots there because they made the road so high that now some of those lots would flood. They'd have water on them. I took a track hoe two years ago and built a berm out there to prevent that. This is something that is sorely lacking. That whole Enclave area is deplorable, OK. If you really and look at it and yet the board accepted those conditions years ago and now the residents down there have to live with it....and clean it up." One, he took things into his own hands by his own words. Two, if lots were bought and sold with houses built - buyer be ware. Why did these people buy there? Who made promises to them?
McBride, "Did people buy these lots?" DeMarchi, "These lots are owned by individuals and corporations and things like that." Good, let them pay for the problem. Look at the governing documents. Ditches, drainage are the responsibility of the owner. McBride, "and they bought there knowing .....Their not responsible?" President Walton, "That is part of ......roads. We're talking about........The lots are not mowed and what we're trying to .... is just the right way.....part of drainage." Portions of what all President Walton said were difficult to hear. Someone else says, "It is not private property?" DeMarchi, "Another thing, you said these people bought those lots knowing this. No, WE didn't. WE did not buy those lots knowing that because WE....those lots were all owned prior to any of the infer structure or roadway going in. MY house OK, set almost2 feet above the old road. When Grand Strand Engineering got done they wanted water to flow up hill and they took....took ME 430 cubic yards of dirt to put MY house up to street level" President Walton, "This is the same area...Larry was it last year we had to regrade because...." McMillin, ...problems where those 3 new houses...We may have to do some of that out in that other area President Walton, "Now once that is taken care of then the property owner maintains that to the road, but right now they're not maintained lots......" Why do some owners have to maintain and others not? Garrison, "We consistently, you know this...clean or re-cutting of ditches, or drainage ditches along a number of streets....This is a situation where you can't begin to get there. If we get this other stuff out of the way...know what you want to do in terms of...." Too many begin to speak at the board table. Hard to understand. What is interesting is that the president doesn't pound the gavel. President Walton, "foot and a half of water always".
McBride, "The reason I bring this up is because I know for a fact that you helped with drainage, but we've also charged. I remember I was on the board...We were doing grading. We charged them $2.00 a foot to clean their ditches out. Ended up to be $4,000 and they were charged $4.00 a foot." Someone on the board cuts in but what they say can't be heard on the tape. McBride continues, "They were charged for it. That was the ditch work. You say we need to be consistent. Be consistent, better to go back and say consistent....where and why....something also doesn't understand either." McBride is shut down by President Walton who says, "I THINK WE'VE GONE BEYOND WHAT THE ACTUAL MOTION WAS....JUST GETTIN TO WHERE OUR GROUNDS CREW CAN MOW." DeMarchi, "It is going to have to be regraded John. It ...the roads where water sits there for a day or two. It get under that road an...lucky haven't had a hard winter...way to destroy roads." McBride, "Got that on Swamp Fox." President Walton, " ALL RIGHT, WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND." Your board all vote yes except for McBride, who abstains.
First, President Walton tries to shut McBride down twice. This board is hell bent on fixing the areas that DeMarchi wants fixed, at the expense of the association. They are violating our governing documents. They fail to acknowledge that McBride is correct. Where s there concern for Swamp Fox residents, if they want consistency? Residents were billed, under INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT for drainage work. I reviewed the actual documents a few years ago. When that board did that they followed all the governing documents and billed the home, or lot owner. Have some other boards let it slide and just let us all pay? Yes. Under the law, repeating a wrong, doesn't make you correct. There have been other boards like this one that did political favors for themselves and their friends. This speaks to more inner board deals, "I support what you want, and you'll support what I want", rather than "we'll govern according to our covenants, by-laws, and policies". This looks like conflict of interest. Notice the MY and WE, relating to property owners? Note, to McBride: keep bringing these things up. Make sure the minutes reflect your votes. Protect yourself for, if, and when lawsuits follow.
